IBM to help Tamil Nadu respond effectively to natural disasters

21/09/2016

IBM on Wednesday said it has teamed up with the Tamil Nadu government to establish an innovative, cloud-based intelligent operations command centre to better prepare for and respond to disruptive, extreme weather events.

Built using IBM Cloud and analytics technologies and services, the new IBM Intelligent Operations Centre for Emergency Management – made possible by an IBM grant – will be located in Chennai, and will help mitigate the devastating negative impact of natural disasters, including annual monsoon-related flooding, IBM said in a statement.

“IBM’s Impact Grant to the Government of Tamil Nadu – one of 400 grants we will award this year – demonstrates our corporate commitment to providing innovative analytics, mobile and cloud technology that can assist at all phases of disaster, help governments in India address future disasters, and best meet the needs of its citizens,” said Amit Sharma, chief operations officer of IBM India.

With an estimated market value of $2 million, the IBM Impact Grant to the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) comes with two years of technical and operations support, including an IBM-led transition team.

The cloud-based Centre will enable Tamil Nadu to pool time-sensitive data from various sources, including weather forecasts, current conditions, and historical data from IBM’s The Weather Company to help track and gauge weather patterns as early as possible.

The Centre will collect power, traffic, health service, and shelter information from municipal sources, and display the current data on a map shared by multiple government agencies.

All processing and analysis will be conducted in IBM’s cloud data centre in Chennai, the statement added.

In addition to cloud technologies, and current and historical weather data, IBM analytics will help the government predict where storms are likely to strike and their potential effect on the infrastructure, including utilities, roads and canals, as well as personal and public property, it said.

The Centre will also analyse potential situations and outcomes, and provide guidance for optimal response to help officials prepare for and deliver needed resources more quickly and effectively. IANS